Eddie Jones handed stay of execution despite Australia’s disastrous Rugby World Cup

Rugby Australia (RA) chief executive Phil Waugh insists that they are “committed” to Eddie Jones, even though the Wallabies are set to exit the Rugby World Cup early.

Should Fiji get just one point from their clash against Portugal, the Wallabies will be eliminated at the pool stage for the first time ever.

Australia opened the World Cup with a victory over Georgia – their first win since the 63-year-old returned as head coach – but they followed that up with defeats to Fiji and Wales.

That effectively ended their chances of reaching the quarter-finals, despite the 34-14 success against Portugal just about keeping them in the tournament.

Review

Jones could still well be sacked after a Rugby Australia review, but Waugh has intimated that the fault does not necessarily lie with the head coach.

Instead, the former Wallabies flanker, who was appointed CEO in June, believes that they need an overhaul within the governing body.

“We’re committed to Eddie… we’ll go through the assessment of this campaign, but I think most importantly it’s actually looking at the overall structure of Australian rugby,” he told reporters.

“I’ve been pretty forthright around the fact we are committed to Eddie and he probably looks at the campaign and is bitterly disappointed about his performance and the Wallabies’ performance. It’s a pretty challenging world being a coach and I can understand that.

“We have to do an assessment of the campaign but our intent is to continue with the path that we’re on.

“I think this is not so much around the chopping and changing of coaches as it is around actually just fixing the system.”

While RA appear committed to their head coach, there are doubts as to whether it is being reciprocated by Jones.

Prior to the Wales match, the Sydney Morning Herald alleged that the 63-year-old had held talks with Japanese officials, with a view to taking over the Brave Blossoms.

Waugh defended Jones after that story broke having spoken with the ex-England boss, who assured the chief executive that he was there for the long-term.

“Eddie’s made his comments to me that he’s committed and there’s nothing there so I just say I’ve taken him for his word,” Waugh said.

“I’m not going to go around speculating or trying to find out where conversations are occurring.”

“Small margins”

Despite giving his support to the beleaguered Jones, Waugh did admit that the Wallabies’ campaign had been “bitterly disappointing”.

“We came here with a lot of hope and optimism and now everything is out of our hands and we’ve got to pray that Portugal get up against Fiji next week,” he added.

“You look at that game against Fiji, and we lose Taniela (Tupou) and Will Skelton during the week and that has a massive impact on that game, and 22-15, it’s small margins.

“Fiji played well, we played poorly, and then you’re out of the World Cup unless there’s a miracle this weekend.”

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